desert crossing (a story)

So a bunch of cool things is going on right now and I will just fill you in quick.

The first thing is that Dreamspinner Press has a BIG sale going on right now! In honor of ebook week, Dreamspinner Press is offering 20% off on all titles. Rush right over there.

In something fun for me, I have PAPERBACK copies of the anthologies Riding Double (with my story The Real Thing) and Never Say Never (with my story Secret Valentine).

There is something incredibly exciting about holding a book in your hands and knowing you are in it. That your story is right there, before you eyes. Thrilling experience! I recommend it highly.

And the anthology This is the Way the World Ends with my vampire story should be out soon – in paperback!

I recently submitted a story called How Can Love Be Wrong? to Dreamspinner for their 2011 Daily Dose “First Time for Everything.” I am proud of this story, more than you can know, and hope to tell you soon that they bought it! I wrote a version of this story years ago and loved it and never sold it and couldn’t figure out why. Dug it out and gave it a good honest read and SAW why! LOL! It needed work. To be fair to me, the biggest problem with the story was the word count contraint set forth by gay magazines. I had to leave so much out and focus on sex. Not what I like to do. That concept is why I stopped writing for a decade.

Well, now the story is over three times as long! I added over ten thousand words and WOW – I think it is much better. A pre-review said it was now a “Cracking good read,” which I think is a good thing. Aussie slang!

I am hard at work on a story about a Dude Ranch and I think it may very well be the best thing I’ve ever written. I will keep you informed as it progresses.

Next is that Desert Crossing is on Dreamspinner’s novella best selling list! *does the Snoopy Dance*

Not only that, but it got an amazing review over at Jessewave, just one of the best M/M review sites there is. Feliz had some great things to say that just had me so happy it was hard to believe. WONDERFUL! The reviewer knew point by point everything I wanted and needed to say in that story and it was incredibly rewarding to know that I must have said it or he wouldn’t have gotten it, right? *G*

The website Globe and Mail has published a fascinating article on M/M romances. One of the things that excited me was that my story Desert Crossing is one of the covers featured in the article! Which is funny, because the article is about heterosexual women writing gay romances, but who cares? It’s advertising. And it is an amazing article. Check it out…

Trends in contemporary popular fiction can be as unpredictable as fashion fads. Nobody expected, for instance, that the gloomy, bespectacled Harry Potter would help resuscitate the ailing book industry any more than Lady Gaga’s bizarre looks would help motivate retail sales. Yet today’s newest publishing trend is as out in left field as Potter and Gaga once were.

Over the past year, man-on-man romantic fiction – books featuring two male protagonists engaged in a sexual or emotional relationship with each other – has taken a significant bite out of one of publishing’s biggest markets. Amazon’s Kindle has had such success with the genre that the e-book site has tripled its “m/m” stock since January, 2010. Even Harlequin – the most profitable and old-fashioned romance fiction house in the world – has recently started to publish same-sex love stories via the company’s digital imprint, Carina Press. What’s most surprising, though, are the types of readers the books have hooked: Straight, married women are among the genre’s top fans. That may be because the authors, such as Iowa’s Heidi Cullinan, a 37-year-old suburban mother of two, are frequently heterosexual females, too. Cullinan has penned such recent works as the popular gay romance Double Blind and the homoerotic fantasy Miles and The Magic Flute.click to find out more

They were so nice and glowing. She is from Indonesia and somehow got it a day early.

This makes me feel just wonderful.

Now listen up. Dreamspinner is offering my story Desert Crossing: A Different Perspective for free with the purchase of Desert Crossing! You get both for only $3.99. What could be better than that? Huh?

You can find Desert Crossing and everything else I’ve written for Dreamspinner by clicking right here.

Here is the description of the story: When Callum’s mother asks him to visit for her birthday, she unwittingly comes to his rescue. Callum is a broken and unhappy man, emotionally abused by his lover to the point of feeling worthless, alone, and without hope. But during his trip, while passing through the Salt Lake Desert, Callum picks up a hitchhiker named Danny, who shows him that life is full of wonder and blessings. He’s on the verge of believing in himself again, but can he really make a new life for himself by jumping from the arms of one man into another’s?

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It’s an unfortunate truth: love doesn’t always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

I will tell you this is a very personal story for me. Very cathartic. It was partially written to help me exorcize a few demons. Won’t be too many stories this personal.

Something wonderful happened last night! I got the cover for Desert Crossing and I am so excited I was and am just about brought to tears.

It is simply amazing.

It is gorgeous.

If a cover sells a book, I am going to sell a million copies.

WOW!

I can’t believe how perfect this cover is. It is RIGHT out of the story. It is exactly what I wanted and more! The characters look right. The scene looks right. The cover tells the story of how the characters meet, and it does it on so many levels!

I just could not possibly be happier!

And if you want to see how REALLY gorgeous the cover is, then click on the picture down below to make it larger so you can see details… I love it!

The story is now on the “Coming Soon” list from Dreamspinner Press and you can find it by clicking Right Here.

And this is just the beginning!

If this is the cover for a novella, which my publisher must believe in to invest so much in it, just think of when I send them my novel. And they are going to LOVE it!

But first, to finish my dude ranch story! I am having a wonderful time writing this new one!!

I got some amazing news the other day. The cover to my story Desert Crossing will be done by Paul Richmond! I am still stunned and amazed.

I’ve even exchanged an email or two with him and he is open to all kinds of input.

I am a big fan of his work and you should check out his website. He has actually done the “cover” work for two of the daily dose projects I’ve been a part of; Naughty or Nice and Midsummer’s Nightmare. Both of those pieces are spectacular!

I got all kinds of input and sometime soon I will get a sketch to comment on. He recommended that I send all my thoughts through Dreamspinner (I am sure it is for some kind of legal and editorial reasons), but he has my email address for more immediate concerns.

I will want to buy a print! I know I won’t be able to afford the original, but I can’t wait to see it. I can’t imagine that I will be disappointed. I have bought a number of books just because he did the cover. If covers sell books, his will sell Desert Crossing!

And since it is a Bittersweet Dreams novella, it’s need the help! LOL!
Bittersweet Dreams stories are the ones that have “nontraditional endings. It’s an unfortunate truth: love doesn’t always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.”

I will tell you all that eventually, both characters (sequels in my head) have very very happy endings!

So I got the edits for Desert Crossing from Dreamspinner Press the other day and really had no complaints. They did a good job cleaning it up a bit and I think I did a good job in what I sent them. They didn’t have to do nearly as much as they’ve had to do with earlier submissions.

So I went through them, did my part and sent them back today.

Now it is just a matter of seeing when it will be available. I’m proud of this story and it has a very personal element to it as well.

I will keep you updated!

Now let’s see how much I can get done today of the first of three cowboys stories I need to write!